Different Mistakes to make a Difference
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: If you could start over, but knowing what you know now, would your life AND career be any different? If you could start over, would you make different mistakes to replace the ones made the first time? What if those different mistakes could be the ones that changed things for the better?
1. Back to the Beginning

Creation began on 02-04-20

Creation ended on 02-05-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference

A/N: _"Hypothetical: If you could start over, but knowing what you know now, would your career be any different?"_

Hank Voight of the Chicago Police Department's Intelligence Unit, an elite group of police officers tasked with handling the most challenging of crimes that plague the city, had faced the most difficult of aftermath repercussions in his career as a member of the police force: The loss of his friend, Alvin Orlinksy.

At least…that's how it seemed to who was watching him from a close distance, unseen by Voight or anyone on that rooftop.

_Go back…to the beginning, _a voice expressed in the night, and Hank turned his head to the left to see the man that had made himself known. "Take your first stepping stone and place it on your path to fixing your previous mistakes…by making new mistakes."

The next thing Voight knew…he was in the backseat of a car…in the morning light, his head clear of a hangover he felt he was supposed to have…and talking to this guy he had injured earlier to get a name out of him that would lead him to finding whoever it was that slinging some bad dope that was killing the kids that used it.

_Wasn't I on a roof at night?_ Voight wondered.

"I don't know where I'm going," the guy told him, barely able to keep the car steady with just one arm on the steering wheel.

"Just keep driving," Voight told him, recognizing the path they were taking to the Silos.

-x-

"What up, Willhites?" Antonio Dawson greeted the family of four as Julie Willhite got out of their car. _Huh? Wait a minute… Jules? But… No, I'm sure she died._

Stepping into the Twenty-First District, Jules pulled Antonio up the stairs leading up to Intelligence and had to speak with him.

"When you woke up this morning, did you feel a sense of Déjà vu?" She asked him.

"In what way?" He responded.

"I woke up this morning getting the craziest feeling that…today…and the day after…were my last days, and that we go after someone and…"

"You get shot," he cut off her, realizing that what she was saying…was too much of a coincidence, "and then nothing much after."

"Yeah," she answers. "Tomorrow…I die?"

-x-

When Voight returned to the Twenty-First, Platt got his attention and handed him a letter with his name on it.

"Tell me something, Hank," Trudy spoke, "does this all seem familiar to you? I checked the date today…and this can't be Twenty-Fourteen, right? I mean, didn't Alvin… Is he upstairs?"

Hank looked at the letter, and it had some very unusual meaning to it.

"_This was asked as a hypothetical once by Detective Antonio Dawson to Alvin Orlinksy," _it started. _"'If you could start over, but knowing what you know now, would your career be any different?' Your friend answered that if he could start over, he'd just make different mistakes from the ones he made the first time. This can be said for all of you, Hank Voight. If you could all start over, only knowing everything you know now, you can affect your lives differently. Everyone that has anything to do with your Intelligence Unit that was affected will have received a letter by the time you get this, probably feeling like this has all happened before…and this has indeed happened once before already. Make different mistakes from the ones you made the first time, and by different mistakes, I mean the choices you know can change the potential of each outcome you're involved in. The more changes you can make with the knowledge you now possess, the different everything can be. Do your best. I leave the rest to you now. Signed, B.C."_

"So, wait a minute, this B.C. person… He brought us all back to before everything happened?" Trudy questioned. "That means…my dad's alive? Everyone we knew is alive?"

"Looks like it," Hank responded, but he needed to know for himself, and left to go up to the Intelligence Unit office.

To be continued…

A/N: I'll stop here and continue on the next chapter to let you process this. But yes, this is a step back to the beginning caused by you-know-who.


	2. Baby Steps

Creation began on 02-05-20

Creation ended on 02-05-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference: Baby Steps

It was the day they would discover that Pulpo was back in the city, meaning they hadn't met Adam Ruzek until they needed a new face to portray a drug buyer. But this was a day that was still confusing because Voight had to ask everyone what they remembered before today.

"…So, as soon as Alvin gets here…" He spoke, but was cut off.

"I'm right here," Alvin told him, eating a banana, just like before.

"What do you remember from before today?"

"I was on the operating table…after that…I was someplace else…until this guy shows up and says what happened to me was unjust and that I needed to go back."

"I think I saw the same guy," Jules expressed. "Was he black, had eyes that looked like they could see into your soul?"

"Yeah."

"He must be this B.C."

"So, he rewound the clock for everyone?" Erin questioned, wondering if, even if it was only by some chance that this was true, this meant that Nadia was alive.

"That's what it looks like," answered Jay to her.

Everyone was trying to come to terms with what was going on here. They knew that before this, they had lost friends, family, some peace of mind, but now they were back in a time from before any of this happened, where they had a chance to do better to protect what was important to themselves and protect the city with what they knew now.

"I know this was a hypothetical question you had asked once," Atwater stated to Antonio, "but now it feels literal. How do we go about this?"

For now, they probably could've followed things the way they had played out like last time, but Voight thought differently, mainly because that meant working with Beldon from the Violent Crimes Unit, and there was no doubt that he would withhold information that would be vital to Intelligence regarding Pulpo. But now…now they didn't need much information from Beldon to apprehend Pulpo.

"Let's go get Pulpo," he told them. "This time, we'll be prepared to handle him."

-x-

Even though he decided not to get directly involved in their second chance to make up for their losses the first time, he still wanted to see how well they'd be able to cope with the temporal reset that would enable them to get away with knowing more than they did the first time around. And he had to admit that it wasn't bad to be the spectator once more as he pretended to be a vagrant rummaging through the recycling bins for soda cans and plastic bottles.

Bash! He heard a door being forced opened and a body falling to the floor.

"Chicago PD!" He heard Halstead yell.

"Drop your gun!" He heard Lindsay add in, and he smiled.

Baby steps," he chuckled.

To be continued…


	3. Family Matters

Creation began on 02-12-20

Creation ended on 02-12-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference: Family Matters

A/N: Do those associated with the Intelligence Unit's individual members recall anything from before the reset?

It had felt like a dream to her in the beginning when she woke up one morning, but after a few days, Lexi Olinsky couldn't shake the feeling that she was experiencing déjà vu, that what she had either seen or heard…had happened once before already. So she went to see her father in the garage whilst he was taking something up.

"…So…have you ever had one of those dreams where you're in a fire and a warehouse was burning down with people still inside it?" She had asked him when they sat down.

"Only as a spectator," Alvin answered, reminded that what had happened less than four years from now still echoed in the back of his mind. "Why do you ask?"

"I recently had the strangest dream that…I was at a rave going on at a warehouse in the city…and then someone set it on fire…and I got hurt. At first, I thought it was just a dream, just some figment of my imagination, but it just seemed too real, like I was having a hard time breathing due to the smoke inhalation."

Alvin couldn't believe that his daughter was recalling the time she was trapped in the warehouse fire that would kill her, just like how he could remember his own death caused by the stabbing in the prison hall. A part of him had been hoping that she didn't know about any of that so he could protect her from what had yet to come, but now that he was aware that she knew what had happened, he had to be cautious about the other case he knew she had a minor involvement in as a witness to a murder.

-x-

Lindsay had actually expected Justin to behave the same when he was released from prison like last time, but he looked calmer than last time, less likely to commit a crime.

"Hey, Erin," he greeted her as he stepped off the prison grounds. "How have you been?"

"I've been the same," she responded.

"I woke up on a Saturday after having the strangest dream about my future."

"Oh, really? What was about in your future?"

"Well, it started out like this, this moment here, but then it jumps to where I'm involved in another bad act that went wrong. I end up being sent to join the army, but after that, I change for the better. I'm married to Olive, my high school crush…but something happens that's different from what would happen when I do something wrong. I was trying to help someone because they were suffering…and I end up hurting others because I fall and don't get up again. I think I die in the end, except that it all felt like it actually happened. Has anything like that ever happened to you before, where you have a dream that feels real, only nothing like it has occurred yet?"

Lindsay got the impression that Justin was recalling events that had occurred, meaning that he was mildly aware that he had taken longer to reform after getting out of prison and getting injured to the point of ending up a vegetable.

"Yeah, but mostly because of Bunny," she explained to him, since this reset of time also meant that she would have to deal with her mother all over again, which she didn't want to deal with at all because it was likely going to end up the same with her, no matter what anyone did. "But there's also the feeling of déjà vu, where something happens…and then something else that was just like it."

"So, then…and it's only a possibility, nothing beyond that…that I did die at least once before because I was trying to help someone."

"Yeah, it's possible."

Lindsay wasn't exactly confirming or denying, but Intelligence now had a lot on its plate with their recollection of crimes they decided to try and prevent from repeating by going after the criminals they had gone after once before, like with Pulpo and his men, or those people pushing cop killers. Other criminals like the men Bunny often owed money because she was a multitude of problems with no solution were on the long list.

"Let's get out of here now," she told Justin and led him to the car.

"Hey, I just want you to know," he needed to say, "that I'm going straight this time. I don't want whatever might've happened a long time from now to actually happen. This feels like a second chance to do better with my life."

_You have no idea, _she accepted.

To be continued…

A/N: Not as long as I could've made it, but I felt that these two characters would be the first of the people associated with the Intelligence Unit to feel that they could avoid going down the same road that lead to heartache and grief. The next chapter may feature Nadia feeling like she had met the others before and realizing what has happened and goes through the reformation faster than it took her the first time because of the lack of conviction and faith from those like Lindsay. Peace.


	4. Giving up on you

Creation began on 03-03-20

Creation ended on 03-03-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference: Giving up on you

A/N: In the canon, they should have just done something like this.

Everyone in or affiliated with Intelligence has been able to make use of this do-over to do better than they did the last time. Some of the people that had been in Intelligence before the rewind weren't seen as much, but their assistance was always necessary to deal with the crimes they could recall and either minimize or prevent from happening completely. Even some people that they hadn't met until much later in the weeks…or months…or even years…had a tendency to show up when called upon to do a favor or just wanted to help out however they could. But for Erin Lindsey tonight…

She just felt she had to deal with this now before it caused problems for her and Intelligence in the future because it was a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a while," went the voice of Barbara Fletcher, AKA Bunny, as Erin walked into the bar she owned. "How you been these days?"

"Busy," Erin responded, just wanting to say her peace and walk away. "I've had some time to reflect upon many things while busting the bad guys and saving people's lives. And there are some things I had to come to terms with."

"Well, there was something I needed to tell you…"

"You're getting married again?"

"How did you…"

"Just a lucky guess, but I won't be attending. I gotta move on with my life, Mom, and that means severing my ties with certain people."

"This is Voight's idea, isn't it?" Bunny asked her.

"No, this is me," Erin told her; even though Voight tried many times to help both of them by limiting their contact and then sending Erin to New York to work with the FBI, it seemed as though Bunny always found a way to cause trouble that was worse than originally anticipated. "Have you ever had an epiphany, Mom? It's a sudden realization. I have had one every moment for years…and sometimes, they come too late. If I could turn back the clock and do my life over again, I'd try harder to do better with my life. I have to worry about my future instead of my past, and you're a part of my past that I need to let go of. There's no point in holding onto it. Goodbye, Bunny."

Erin then left out the bar, leaving Bunny to try and come to terms with what just happened between them.

To be continued…

A/N: I know I could've made it longer, but this felt where it needed to be. Plus, I really hated Bunny. She was always dragging Erin into her problems and she ruined the Erin/Jay relationship.


	5. Keeping Watch

Creation began on 03-19-20

Creation ended on 05-08-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference: Keeping Watch

A/N: Intelligence may not have much pull regarding certain laws, but they can pull surveillance on those they know are guilty of their past and future crimes (the latter ones of which can be prevented if they're lucky enough).

Criminals like Rolo Ramirez, Lonnie Rodiger, Glenn Ward, Ted Powell and Gregory Yates…were untouchable for the time being, despite Intelligence having full awareness of their previous crimes. But that didn't keep Intelligence from keeping tabs on each perp, especially Lindsay, who kept her eyes on Yates' address, wanting to make sure that he didn't go anyplace without her knowing.

Halstead, when it came to Rodiger, took a step back and left warnings letters to the father, telling him to keep tabs on his son's whereabouts.

Beep. Halstead's radio beeped, and he picked up.

"Halstead," he uttered, parked in an unmarked car across the street from the Rodiger house.

"It's Lindsay," responded his partner on the other end. "It's all quiet on my watch. How about your watch?"

"Everyone's asleep for the night."

"Except crime never sleeps."

"Neither does the law."

-x-

Erica Gradishar and Edwin Stillwell were both on Voight's watch due to both being Internal Affairs and on his case about Maurice Owens. Right now, Owens was a necessary evil on the streets that Voight needed until he no longer had any use for him and could put him away for as long as the law permitted. Last night, he had gotten a call from his son, Justin, saying that he was doing fine in the Army, reminding him that his time there had changed his tune and recalling what had happened to him in the previous timeline had given him more clarity, and he was to call Olive the next week.

Shine! He saw the headlights of the car belonging to Gradishar as they were to meet again tonight to discuss Owens.

_Here we go again,_ he thought.

To be continued…

A/N: Sorry it's a shorty. But we know that Intelligence is keeping watch on the bad guys before they cross the line, preventing the loss of lives that came because of their twisted actions.


	6. Going after the Hoarder

Creation began on 05-14-20

Creation ended on 07-08-20

Chicago PD

Different Mistakes to make a Difference: Going after the Hoarder

A/N: Burgess decides to do better than the first time around.

Renee Evans, the woman that had a hoarding problem, collecting many things that were next to worthless and letting them pile up all over her home, but that wasn't the worse part of having to deal with her. For Burgess, it was the discovery that her son, Gareth, had been locked up and kept from going outside because he was listed as a missing person four years ago in South Dakota. As far as they knew, even with the rewinding of time back to before they ever dealt with Pulpo, nothing else had changed, meaning that they had yet to save people like before.

"Renee Evans," went Burgess to the hoarder, "I'm Officer Burgess and this is Officer Atwater. I'm afraid you've exceeded the thirty-day limit you had to clean up your property, and we have to arrest you for the clutter."

"But…I'm trying, really," Ms. Evans claimed, but Atwater brought out the cuffs and slapped them on her. "Wait, please!"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we have no choice in the matter," Burgess told her, and they took her to their car.

Once that was accomplished, they went back inside the house to investigate. It was just as cluttered inside as it was outside, but Burgess knew where they needed to go.

"Gareth Evans?" She called out to the locked door in the basement.

"Mama said no strangers," they heard a boy's voice behind the door.

"She's not well," she told him as she opened the door. "Are you alright?"

-x-

"Good work on the hoarder deal, you two," Platt praised Burgess and Atwater as they clocked out for the day.

"All in a day's work," Burgess sighed, just relieved to have done the job sooner rather than later. "How's the boy?"

"DCFS is looking after him until they can find a foster family for him."

"That's good."

To be continued…

A/N: Well, that's that. The hoarder was dealt with sooner than the previous time.


End file.
